The Portuguese Agrifood Traditional Products: main constraints and challenges

Although Portugal registers a large number of protected brand names,
its economic turnover is very low when compared to the other southern EUMember
States. To identify and analyze the main reasons of this weak economic
significance of the Portuguese quality traditional agrifood products are the
main goals of this paper. The main conclusions from the data gathered in step
one of the research, which main goal was to understand the main reasons why
agricultural firms do not adhere to the PDO/PGI food systems, are related with
several issues, namely: the economic and transactions costs of certification,
the heavy bureaucracy related to the certification process, the small difference
in prices between PDO/PGI products and standard products, within the same
reference market, and the preferences of Portuguese consumers. According to the
respondents, Portuguese consumers do not know nor socially valorize PDO/PGI
products, and privilege (i) traditional/local standard products, instead of PDO/
PGI products, and (ii) proximity marketed relationships. These latter findings contribute to highlight, not only why the interviewed firms do not adhere to the PDO/PGI systems,
but also why the Portuguese PDO/PGI domestic market is narrow when compared with the ones of
southern EU-Member States.